


the universe only contains what is

by 26stars



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: (or maybe not if Skye lived in the same city as the Academy...), AU Meeting, Accidental Poly Relationship Acquisition, Bookstore AU, Fluff, M/F/F poly dating relationship, Multi, Shield-Free AU, meet cute, pre-relationsip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24288979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/26stars/pseuds/26stars
Summary: Skye works in a bookstore and has a soft spot for the pair of Brits who frequent the study area. It has nothing to do with how cute the girl is or how blue the guy's eyes are. Nope. Nothing at all.For the Finale Week prompt: 'Bus Kids' and my Fluff Bingo square 'bookstore AU'
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 17
Kudos: 57
Collections: AOS Season 7 Countdown





	the universe only contains what is

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Florchis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florchis/gifts).



> I love this quote and it seemed appropriate here:
> 
> "A bookstore is larger than the universe. After all, the universe only contains what is."
> 
> This is my first Fitzskimmons fic and only my second poly fic, so let me know if there's anything I fumbled here.

Skye has never been much for bookstores. She hadn’t been in a position to be acquiring many books of her own throughout her life, and once she was on her own, a brand-new book is the last thing she would have spent money on. Libraries were a reliable refuge when she was homeless—decent daytime hours, no limit on the time you could spend there, plenty of seating, she just had to be sneaky and only eat out of sight of the staff. It didn’t cost a cent to be there, and almost no one ever bothered her.

And yet. When the new mega-bookstore up the road was nearing completion and hung a NOW HIRING banner outside, it was a chance Skye could hardly ignore. Anything to get her out of food service.

She listed excellent availability and hoped that a decent hourly rate would make up for any cuts she took in her hours at the diner. One place had a breakfast rush, the other didn’t. Unless her manager got mad about her taking a second job and straight-up fired her, she didn’t need to worry about the two conflicting.

Thankfully, she landed an entry-level sales associate position despite having exactly zero retail experience. Books were certainly simpler than clothes—they didn’t go out of style every season, they didn’t need folding, there were no sizes to worry about… But Skye had nearly blown her chance at the job when one of the questions at the group interview was “How many books do you think you read in a year?” Maybe it was relevant to gauge how familiar each of them might have been with titles, genres, authors…but for Skye, this felt like a weed-out question. She’d answered last and lied through her teeth, giving a middle-of-the-road number that she hoped would not come back to haunt her.

When training began for the grand opening, she was relieved to hear that sales reps were hardly required to have read all the books they were in charge of selling—as long as they could work a computer and remember the layout of the store, it wouldn’t be hard to help a customer find whatever book they’d come in looking for. But, the manager reminded them, it never hurt to have a couple of titles in each genre to have in the back pocket to recommend to the bewildered shoppers looking for gifts for a certain age/interest.

“Put your employee discount to good use.”

Skye still maintained that that “good use” was for people in better circumstances than her, people who weren’t sleeping in a car and living off good breakfast tips and the kindness of friends. And once the store opened, she found herself doing back-of-store duties most of the time anyway—inventory, restocking shelves, and general housekeeping. The last duty kept her most often in the children’s area, where there were train sets and some book-related toys out for play, and an area on the opposite side of the shop with several tables set up for studying, book clubs, group discussions, etc. Within weeks of opening, the store already had noticeable regulars, and it doesn’t take long for Skye to have the schedule memorized.

She’s started looking forward to Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Skye has been in the back room for most of her afternoon/evening shift that Thursday doing inventory of the day’s shipment by the time she moves out to the stacks to start taking down notes of what she needs to pull from the back. She usually starts in the front and works her way back, but on her way there today she makes sure to detour past the study area and see if her new favorite regulars have set up shop for the evening yet.

They have.

She doesn’t know their names, so Skye just thinks of them as the British Invasion. It’s a pair of students who look about her age, and they always come with a spread of work that easily takes over an entire four-person table. Sometimes they’re working silently and separately, but more often than not, the two of them are chattering about topics Skye can’t follow at all. Well, that struggle might have had more to do with their accents and the speed at which the two of them talk, but occasionally Skye catches terms like “velocity” and “parabolic” and “radiation” and decides early on that these two are on some stuff well out of her league.

Still, their regular presence is comforting for some reason, and it always makes Skye happy to see them there.

She has no intention of ever speaking to them, but the opportunity arises one night when she has a closing shift, which is common for her now. The clock has ticked down to the final minutes, a warning has already been announced over the store’s PA system, but when it’s time to lock the front doors, the pair of Brits are still very much at their table, so engrossed in their discussion that Skye has to try twice to interrupt them before she’s successful.

“Hey, sorry, but we’ve gotta close,” she finally says when she’s managed to get their attention. For the first time, both their gazes turn fully on her, and Skye feels nervous immediately. Not just because she feels like she may have interrupted the plans for the D-Day invasion, but because, _man, that guy’s eyes are crazy blue_ and _holy shit that girl’s even cuter than I realized_.

“I, uhm, yeah, it’s ten o’clock,” Skye repeats, flashing her phone screen at them. “Sorry, but you two need to pack up.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the British girl says immediately, jumping to her feet. “If you can’t tell, we were rather in the middle of a disagreement…”

“You can’t disagree about facts,” her partner, whose accent sounds a little different, grumbles as he begins pushing his papers into their own folders.

“We were disagreeing on the applications of such facts,” the British girl goes on, and Skye is not sure if she’s talking to her or just to herself. “Fitz here thinks that just because it works means that it ought to be applied widely and immediately—”

“Now don’t make me out to be the mad scientist to a complete stranger,”

“She’s hardly a stranger, Fitz—she sees us here twice a week.”

Realizing that she has not gone as unnoticed as she thought, Skye blushes slightly .

“Do you uh, need help carrying anything?” she offers, but the pair have managed to impressively consolidate everything into their over-stuffed backpacks.

“No, we’re used to managing, thank you,” the British girl says with a disarming smile as she hefts her bag onto her shoulder. “Come on Fitz, let’s get out of her hair before we’re banned for life.”

They’re gone before Skye can come up with something clever, friendly, or even coherent to say, and she numbly locks the door behind them, hoping she hasn’t scared them off for good.

They’re back the following Tuesday though, right on schedule, and this time Skye puts a little more effort into trying to catch the girl’s eye when she passes through the study area to push in chairs and collect abandoned books for re-shelving. The brunette meets her eyes briefly with a smile of recognition, but she’s also listening to her partner and doesn’t interrupt him to say anything in Skye’s direction.

Even though she knows she shouldn’t be, Skye feels rather disappointed.

~

“What are some good books on ethics?”

Skye jumps a good six inches into the air at the sound of a familiar voice so close behind her, especially when it belongs to old Blue Eyes—Fitz, if she’s remembering right—from the British Invasion.

“Ethics?” Skye repeats while trying to catch her breath.

“Yeah, really any field, or the general kind. Jemma thinks I’m in dire need of some checkpoints for my ambitions.”

_Oh, so her name is Jemma…_

Skye is certain she’s blushing, but she wordlessly waves the young man after her as she hustles to a staff computer station in the back, checking the catalog, then leads him to the right section.

“Everything we have in stock would be on those two shelves,” Skye says, pointing. “I haven’t read any of them, so I can’t recommend.”

“It’s all right. Thank you,” Fitz says as he takes a knee to inspect the selection.

She’s not on register duty that night, so she doesn’t get to ring him up if he buys anything, but she does find an assortment of ethics books abandoned on his and Jemma’s table that night after they’ve left.

~

One night the next week, Skye is shocked to find Jemma studying alone. She keeps an eye on the young woman’s table throughout her shift, but when it’s an hour to closing time and Fitz still hasn’t shown, Skye actually feels concerned.

“Your friend home sick tonight?” she asks when she passes the Jemma’s table again and they make brief eye contact.

“He had a meeting with his advisor this afternoon,” the brunette says with a shrug. “Must be a pretty good meeting—I was certain he’d show eventually.”

“Are you two at the Academy?” Skye asks, trying to imagine which local school could manage to draw students from across the pond.

“Yes, and we’re both set to graduate next year,” Jemma says, pushing out the chair across from her with her foot. “Would you like to sit down?”

Startled and immediately flustered, Skye shakes her head, fumbling for her employee lanyard.

“Sorry, I can’t—I’m on the clock,” she explains. “You’ll have to track me down sometime before work once in a while.”

“That would be easy if I could have your number,” Jemma says with a twinkle in her eye as she slides her phone over. “Why don’t you put it in?”

Skye knows a more experienced flirt might try to play it cool, but she eagerly snatches up the girl’s phone, entering her number and hitting _call._ In her pocket, her own silenced phone rings, and she smiles as she ends the call.

“My name is Skye,” she says as she backs away, reaching for her book cart.

“Nice to meet you, Skye,” Jemma says with a wink as she leaves.

Jemma leaves before closing time that evening, but when Skye has a chance to check her phone, she finds a message waiting.

_If you don’t work tomorrow night, let me know. If you do, then I’ll see you on Thursday [winky emoji]._

_~_

Unfortunately, Skye _does_ work Wednesday night, but that doesn’t stop her and Jemma from texting a little during the day before Skye goes on the clock and during her half-hour break.

 _I have to know—is Fitz your boyfriend?_ Skye asks early in the conversation. It will be the most fair to both of them to get that out of the way now…

_No, not really, but you’re not the first person to assume that. I’ve heard we act married._

_You do. What does ‘not really’ mean tho?_

_I mean, I can’t imagine life without him. He’s certainly one of the most important people to me. But we don’t kiss or fool around or anything. Sometimes I have a feeling he wishes we would, but…_

_But?_

_Well, the last thing I want is for something like that to mess up what we have now._

_Fitz has said tho that he thinks you’re quite cute. Are you interested in boys?_

_Uh, yes, but not exclusively._

_As in, you don’t want an exclusive relationship, or you like girls as well as boys?_

_The second. I’m bi._

_Me too :)_

_Really?_

_Indeed. Why anyone would limit the people they could love is beyond me._

_Well tell Fitz if he wants to ask me out, he needs to do it himself, or I might ask you out before he gets the chance._

Jemma doesn’t respond to the last message for a painfully long time, but when she does, it makes Skye exhale in relief.

_He’d better hurry up then :)_

~

Fitz is with Jemma again on Thursday evening, but now Skye finds herself shyly avoiding their area. While yesterday’s conversation with Jemma felt so easy, talking to them in person suddenly feels intimidating again.

“Do you work until close tonight?”

Once again, the proximity of the voice makes her jump, but this time it’s Jemma who snuck up on her. Jemma seems pleased with her reaction though and doesn’t apologize.

“Yeah, why?” Skye says, blushing already with the girl standing so close.

“We’ll wait for you, if that’s ok. We don’t have a car—we just Uber back to campus usually. But there’s a 24-hour donut shop down the road that we’ve gone to on other nights, or moved from here to there when we have more to do…”

“I’ll go,” Skye says quickly. “Meet me around the back entrance around 10:30."

The two of them are there, perched on the curb with their bags balanced on their knees, when Skye walks out with her manager after closing duties are finished for the night. The pair spring up, both smiling, making their way to her in the early-autumn cool of night.

“Donuts then?” Fitz says, pointing up the road. “Do you have a car?”

Skye definitely could offer to drive them all, but that would mean revealing her rough sleeping life, so just shrugs. “Let’s walk.”

A few minutes later, after they’ve squeezed into a booth together with donuts and hot tea in front of them, the conversation is flowing easily, but Skye still feels nervous, unable to shake the feeling that she’s on the strangest date of her life. Considering the three of them have never had much time to chat until now, they have a lot of initial get-to-know-you questions to cover, and slowly, Skye relaxes. The British pair have plenty to talk about that isn’t within their fields (Engineering and Biochem, Skye has now learned) so Skye doesn’t feel _completely_ intimidated. And on top of that, _God they’re both cute_.

After-hours donuts become a regular pattern almost immediately. Skye’s manager teases her about her “entourage” waiting for her every Tuesday and Thursday night after closing, and Skye gives the “just friends” line without reservation— _friends_ doesn’t feel like much of a stretch anymore. Fitz and Jemma seem to be plenty busy with school, and she doesn’t have much free time between her two jobs, so she doesn’t feel much missing outside of their Tuesday and Thursday evenings together.

Except.

Except one night, she’s underdressed for the evening temperature on their walk to the donut shop, and Fitz puts his jacket around her shoulders.

Except another evening when they’re saying goodbye in the Uber as it drops her back at the bookstore lot where her van is, Jemma air-kisses her cheek just before Skye climbs out, and Skye’s left wishing it had been a real one.

Except she always has trouble deciding which side of the booth to sit on, who to sit next to.

Except she’s been wondering how it might feel to hold their hands. Separately or together.

She doesn’t know how to have that conversation with them though. She doesn’t even know where to start.

The stars finally align one Wednesday evening, and she’s free after the lunch rush at her diner for the rest of the day. Fitz and Jemma aren’t done with class until four, but she meets them at the edge of their campus, and they give her a quick tour. Jemma links her arm through Skye’s as they walk, and Skye tries not to lean into it too obviously. They eat in a café just a bit off campus at a small, round table, and that feels much more right than the opposing seats of a booth. Fitz wants to show her a second-hand bookstore that is down the street, and Skye has to admit that this feels much more like a place she could enjoy objectively but enjoys so much more being there with the two of them. When it’s getting late and time for her to leave, both of them hug her in turn before she gets in her van.

“Let’s do this again soon,” Skye says hopefully, and she hopes she’s not imagining that they both look plenty excited at the possibility.

The next time they squeeze into a booth together, Jemma holds her hand beneath the table, and Skye is both thrilled and terrified. She can’t make herself say anything in the moment, but she texts Jemma that night once they’ve parted ways.

_Hey, I really like you, so if you’re just holding my hand in a friendly way, it might be better that you didn’t._

_Do you hold hands with people in a friendly way?_

_Idk, I thought maybe things were different in Britain…_

_No, we’re quite reserved. PDA is exactly what it looks like._

_So…do you want to try this? A date? Won’t it be weird for Fitz?_

_…_

_…_

_Perhaps we’re not as transparent as I thought. He and I both thought the three of us already had our first date._

Skye stares dumbly at her phone for a moment.

_Why is this not a group message_

_Not sure. It certainly should be._

**New group message created!**

**Jemma:** _Hey Fitz, Skye and I were just talking about dates._

 **Fitz:** _Right! It feels like Jemma and I might have been doing all the planning without really asking you what you'd like—would you like to pick the activity next time?_

 **Skye:** _Sorry, you’ve gotta back up for me. Who’s dating who here? Have I been third-wheeling your dates?_

 **Fitz:** _No, we’ve all been on a date. The three of us._

 **Skye:** _This is…not something I’ve done before._

 **Jemma:** _Neither have we._

 **Skye:** _But you’re both okay with it? Because I would be very okay with dating both of you if it’s what you both want. You’re way too awesome to choose between._

 **Jemma:** _That seems to be how we all feel about each other._

 **Skye:** _Can we count donuts tonight as our second date then? Because I would very much like to kiss you both on the next one._

 **Fitz:** _I think we’ve established that we’re all on board with disregarding the usual dating conventions._

 **Skye:** _Excellent._

**Jemm** **a:** _I’m all for the next date being as soon as possible. :)_

**Skye:** _You bring the books, Fitz can bring the donuts, and I'll bring the PDA_

**Fitz:** _Deal :)_

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the abrupt ending but I was just having trouble sticking the landing. Maybe could there could be a fluffy follow-up, but now just now.


End file.
